Grantland: Punting on 4th-and-1 candidate for worst coaching move of the year

[X-Clown]

The bad move was not fixing the Safety position in the offseason.

Great point.

[footballisasport]

cam doesnt fumble we win the game. most coaches punt in that situation especially seeing how our dline was getting in ryans ass. atlanta should be counting their blessings for this gift of a win.

It's games like this that separate men from boys; cowards from competitors. Cowards always blame the easiest person on the team. Which in this case is your QB. Competitors take responsibility for their actions because they have a come what may attitude.

You play to win. Not play to hold on. Better to take a chance and fail than to give the other team a chance to fail. Every competitor knows that.

[footballisasport]

If Rivera went for it and we did not get it...THAT would be the worst coaching decision of the year...bc all ATL needed was a fg to win.

The punt was downed at the 1cm line....it could not have worked more in favor of that decision...now a fumbling-tripping no playmaking FS and DBs with questionable awareness erased all the good from that.

Cam should not have fumbled and we should all be discussing how great it is to be Panther fans..

It was the one moment at the most critiical point of the game where you do not fumble..he did.

It was Cam's John Kasay kick out of bounds moment.

Seriously??? You still had time to recover and like usual, a bad decision was made and in typical after the fact style, you blame Cam.

The Panthers will not be winning much with such a lazy attitude.

Good to see the SB Champion Giants didn't blame their loss on their QB nor kicker. Their coach had enough balls to take FULL responsibility for the final decision. That is why they have won SB rings in 4 years to this team's 0.

[rico6]

Where the punt was downed is what made the punt a brilliant move. The probability of a rookie making a kick like that, and Pilares making that save is the same as me finding a dollar in the street.

If the falcons took that ball at the 20, they would have made that field goal and won the game. we ALL saw it coming.

[chef17]

Seriously??? You still had time to recover and like usual, a bad decision was made and in typical after the fact style, you blame Cam.

The Panthers will not be winning much with such a lazy attitude.

Somebody's "attitude" on a message board doesn't have poo to do with the Panthers winning.

[Peppers90 NC]

It's games like this that separate men from boys; cowards from competitors. Cowards always blame the easiest person on the team. Which in this case is your QB. Competitors take responsibility for their actions because they have a come what may attitude.

You play to win. Not play to hold on. Better to take a chance and fail than to give the other team a chance to fail. Every competitor knows that.

Oh sir wise one, next week I will be sure to play harder to make sure the Panthers win and not be such a coward like yourself. But for now, you are right, I will take responsibility for not making one of those missed tackles or dropped passes. And next time I will make sure the ball is fumbled forward.

Not sure what rock you crawled from under, but it doesn't have anything to do with the tea in China.

[goodoleboy]

Where the punt was downed is what made the punt a brilliant move. The probability of a rookie making a kick like that, and Pilares making that save is the same as me finding a dollar in the street.

If the falcons took that ball at the 20, they would have made that field goal and won the game. we ALL saw it coming.

This is an argument for punting? We have struggled on special teams and defense for the entire Rivera era. Nothing like putting the game in the hands of your weakest squads. Ron gets the hello kitty shirt this week.

[HardcoreDefense]

Hate the call but if it was at BoA then I'm sure he would've went for it cus the fans would be screaming at him to do it

[X-Clown]

This is an argument for punting? We have struggled on special teams and defense for the entire Rivera era. Nothing like putting the game in the hands of your weakest squads. Ron gets the hello kitty shirt this week.

reading comprehension fail?

[SOJA]

I said we should have gone for it and made the exact same point about our running backs. That being said, that didn't lose us the game. Not being able to knock down a simple ball is why we lost.

[Peppers90 NC]

Hate the call but if it was at BoA then I'm sure he would've went for it cus the fans would be screaming at him to do it

now thats what makes a great coach!

[CatMan72]

...and if we went for it and didn't get it Rivera would be ripped like Belichick was, so you can't win with the media.

[dmikeellis1]

I totally agree! another ron rivera no balls call....just tells the offense "WE DONT BELIEVE IN YOU!...what a bone head...i and twenty of my friends have had season tickets since day one and WE ARE DONE>>DUNN DUNN with MARTY HURNEY{our long term problem} RON "GUTLESS" RIVERA and that sorry A-HOLE of a defensive non-cordinator!...THEY HAVE RUINED THIS SEASON IN FOUR GAMES...WAY TO GO YOU DI@# HEADS...ANOTHER BLOWN SEASON !

[HardcoreDefense]

now thats what makes a great coach!

Haha I assume your being sarcastic. I believe he would do it at BoA but I don't like the way this coaching staff have been calling plays lately. Our offense is sooo slow at moving the ball across the field. Hell, we couldn't even get a damn FG during our 2 min drill against the Felons. Our style of play is not aggressive enough and I hate it. Hopefully our coaches learned a lot from these loses, if not I want to see them fired b4 the next season.